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When to use rules: meetings more than 10 people
Rule prevent:
Rules provide fair procedures for:
Some terms are either (a) rarely used, or (b) old-fashioned sounding terms which could be replaced by approximate equivalents in modern everyday speech. I try not to use such words -- they are included here mainly for reference in case someone else uses them. I have placed these words in a separate subsection.
parliamentary procedure: a set of rules for groups to make decisions in meetings
Robert's Rules of Order: a particular parliamentary procedure. Often abbreviated to "Robert's Rules".
deliberative assembly: a group that has to make decisions in a meeting
parliamentary authority: a reference document which defines a parliamentary procedure
to have the floor: when you have the floor, that means it's your turn to speak
to call a vote: to decide that it's time for everyone to vote on something
to preside over a meeting: to lead the meeting; the person presiding determines who has the floor, what is being discussed, and when to call a vote. If the meeting is using rules, to be the person who interprets and enforces the rules.
chairperson (or chair, or chairman, or chairwoman, or president): the person who presides
out of order: an action which violates the rules is described as "out of order"
debate: a discussion about a particular topic, conducted according to rules
a motion: a proposal for the group to consider. There are various different types of motions which are defined in the rules.
to make a motion: to propose something
main motion: a main motion is a proposal to actually do something (all motions which are not "main" motion are proposals about how to conduct the meeting)
The group decides whether or not it agrees with a motion by voting. Most motions require >1/2 of the votes in order to pass, but some motions require >=2/3. Types of motions also differ in the circumstances in which they are permitted to be made.
a quorum: a minimum number of members who must be present at the meeting
agenda: a plan or schedule for a meeting
business: stuff to be discussed at a meeting
minutes: an official record of what was done at a meeting. The meeting minutes are formal documents whose content is specified by the rules.
committee: a formal subset of group members who meet separately to work on something and report back to the full group
to call to order: to begin the (formal part of the) meeting
to adjourn: to end the (formal part of the) meeting
to recess: to take a break from the (formal part of the) meeting
The minutes are intended to be objective documents; therefore, they should not contain summaries of discussions (you can write a summary if you want, but you should keep it separate from the minutes). The idea is: the minutes should record only what is __done__, not what is __said__.
